Driving to South France/Spain

[Geriatric Seagull]

Drove to Limoges area and back last week. Used Newhaven -Dieppe instead of usual Portsmouth-Caen. Worked out nearly £200 cheaper even with Brittany Ferries discount. Took about an extra 75 minutes using motorway from Rouen and probably 5-10 euros extra in tolls. (About 40 euros each way - Rouen to Poitiers) Motorway fuel more expensive - about 1euro66 a litre. Avoiding motorway to Tours is not too bad - Evreux, Dreux etc. but a lot of roundabouts and can be slow.

 

[chucky1973]

My advice would be to use the A75 for part of your journey - from Clermont-Ferrand down to west of Montpellier.

Pretty sure you only have to pay to go over Millau viaduct, otherwise no toll to use a much quieter motorway than the one through Burgundy and Rhone Valley.

Really scenic area, too.

Would not recommend driving too much on Routes Nationales (equivalent of our A roads). Much slower.

This the routre I take 3 times a year, you can also fill up with really cheap fuel at an LE electric Garage near Deux( last time I went it was 1.13 as oppossed to 1.38 on the toll roads. I take the A16 to Rouen, the road down to Everux,Deux, Chartres and then motorway all the way down over the Millau Viaduct (7.50 euros) and turn off the A75 at towards Bezier. Thats costs about 38 euros each way. Takes me about 9 hours driving approx 650 miles, beautful drive especially this time of year

 

[adrian29uk]

Give me driving to Span, Italy, France anytime. I prefer this to getting on a plane. Just can't stand the stress at airports, does my head in.

Went to Zell Am See in Austria last xmas. Got to the airport for the flight home, and there where about 7 planes all leaving within about 2 hours. Pathetic for a small airport.

Passport control then decided that everyone had to remove every single electronic item from their bags and have these scanned, belts and shoes also had to removed which is normal, but It took us nearly 2 hours to get through passport control.

We got through passport control with about 10 mins to spare.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Is Portsmouth - St Malo worth a look.? Ferry is longer and probably more expensie but will knock time off the drive.

 

[adrian29uk]

Drove to Limoges area and back last week. Used Newhaven -Dieppe instead of usual Portsmouth-Caen. Worked out nearly £200 cheaper even with Brittany Ferries discount. Took about an extra 75 minutes using motorway from Rouen and probably 5-10 euros extra in tolls. (About 40 euros each way - Rouen to Poitiers) Motorway fuel more expensive - about 1euro66 a litre. Avoiding motorway to Tours is not too bad - Evreux, Dreux etc. but a lot of roundabouts and can be slow.

Newhaven route is bloody good value. Used this route plenty of times. Its not advertised all that well, but beats Britanny Ferries prices all the time.

 

[chucky1973]

TESCO club cards vouchers, I change them into Euro Tunnel vouchers (3x the value) and get it for nothing. 25 mins to france and straight on to the A16.

 

[BensGrandad]

This the routre I take 3 times a year, you can also fill up with really cheap fuel at an LE electric Garage near Deux( last time I went it was 1.13 as oppossed to 1.38 on the toll roads. I take the A16 to Rouen, the road down to Everux,Deux, Chartres and then motorway all the way down over the Millau Viaduct (7.50 euros) and turn off the A75 at towards Bezier. Thats costs about 38 euros each way. Takes me about 9 hours driving approx 650 miles, beautful drive especially this time of year

Which way did you go from CHARTRES looking at the map it is either motorway up towards Paris a short distance, and then back south, or down to Le Mans and down. There looks like an A road to Artenay and then join the motorway at Orleans.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

This the routre I take 3 times a year, you can also fill up with really cheap fuel at an LE electric Garage near Deux( last time I went it was 1.13 as oppossed to 1.38 on the toll roads. I take the A16 to Rouen, the road down to Everux,Deux, Chartres and then motorway all the way down over the Millau Viaduct (7.50 euros) and turn off the A75 at towards Bezier. Thats costs about 38 euros each way. Takes me about 9 hours driving approx 650 miles, beautful drive especially this time of year

Yep thats the route that I take, Calais, Abbeville, Rouen, Evreux, Dreux, Chartes, Orleans, Bourges, then straight down the E11 and over the Millau viaduct.